Author: Chris
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macOS Tahoe and MacVector 18.8
Apple released macOS Tahoe on Monday (15th Sept 2025). As usual in the run up to a new macOS release, we have been testing MacVector 18.8 on development and public betas of macOS Tahoe. With macOS Tahoe’s Liquid Glass appearance we have come across a very minor display glitch. But otherwise we are happy to…
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Handling Gaps in Multiple Sequence Alignment Consensus Calculations
By default, MacVector ignores gaps when calculating the consensus of a multiple sequence alignment. However, this can lead to some unexpected results. For example, consider this three sequence alignment where one sequence has a long insertion compared to the other two. In this case it does not seem reasonable to believe that the “consensus” should…
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Automating annotation of sequences via BLAST
MacVector 18.8 is out and it’s packed with new tools! MacVector 18.8 has tools to help you identify and annotate unknown, unannotated or partially annotated sequences. Ideal for identifying contigs from a de novo assembly. One of these new tools is AutoAnnotate (via BLAST) Auto-Annotate (via BLAST) is similar to Auto-Annotate (local), except instead of using curated sequences on your own…
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MacVector 18.8 Is Here – Packed with Powerful New Features
A game changer for identifying unknown sequences MacVector 18.8 is out and it’s packed with new tools! MacVector 18.8 has tools to help you identify and annotate unknown, unannotated or partially annotated sequences. Batch BLAST allows you to automate BLAST searches for multiple sequences and Auto-Annotate (via BLAST) allows you to automatically annotate multiple sequences.…
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MacVectorTip: Annotating and Comparing Genome Segments
In last week’s tip we showed you how to filter NGS read data to pull out and assemble just those reads that represent a specific gene of interest. Now let’s see how to annotate the single contig we generated and compare that to a reference genome. First, from the Contig Editor, you can save the consensus in MacVector…
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MacVectorTip: Use Align to Folder to filter NGS data for specific genes
Even the latest Macintosh computers loaded with as much RAM as you can afford will still struggle to de novo assemble genomes much over 50 Mbp. But, often that is not required. If you are just interested in a few genes, or a specific region of a chromosome, you can use Align to Folder to filter the…
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Optimizing analysis parameters from the results window
The majority of MacVector’s analysis tools use a standard workflow: Optimizing results Once you have run the initial analysis then for subsequent analysis you can just repeat the analysis you have just done and further filter it. To do so you need to rerun the analysis tool except now select the Results window (at the…
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MacVector Pro is now MacVector Pro with Assembler
MacVector Pro now includes Assembler, a powerful sequence assembly plugin that brings sequence assembly directly to your desktop with the same user-friendly interface MacVector users have come to expect. Assembler simplifies the management, assembly, and analysis of all types of sequencing data. Assembler’s extensive toolkit has always been seamlessly integrated into MacVector, but previously required…
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MacVector 18.7.3: a minor bug fix release
We’ve just released MacVector 18.7.3. This has a few minor bug fixes with calculating amino acid properties of a protein sequence: If you have not yet been prompted to upgrade then go to MACVECTOR | CHECK FOR UPDATES… or download the installer directly. MacVector 18.7.3 is fully supported on macOS High Sierra to macOS Sequoia.
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MacVector and macOS Sequoia
Apple released macOS Sequoia earlier this week (16th September 2024). As usual in the run up to a new macOS release, we have been testing MacVector on development builds of macOS Sequoia. We are happy to report that there are no issues and that MacVector 18.7 is fully supported on macOS Sequoia. If you do come across…